Craigslist scammers responded to car for sale add.

[mike0000]

My youngest daughter just bought a new to her car, Dad now gets to sell the family college car. I listed it on Fb Marketplace and Craigslist. I’m up to 4 scammers now, area codes as far away as California. They ask a few questions and then want a vin report and send a link in the text. These all originated from the Craigslist adds. I listed it yesterday.

 

[John T]

Marketplace is hit or miss.

Personally If I get any stupid questions or "is this available" I block them immediately and delete the conversation.

Same goes for anyone with a location outside of driving distance.

Basically anything fishy.... BLOCKED

C-ya

 

[Old Machinist]

Marketplace is hit or miss.

Personally If I get any stupid questions or "is this available" I block them immediately and delete the conversation.

Same goes for anyone with a location outside of driving distance.

Basically anything fishy.... BLOCKED

C-ya

I don't know what you consider outside of driving distance but I recently sold my backhoe on FB to a guy 250 miles away. Some years back I sold a racecar off CL to some guys in TX. I am in N FL.

The backhoe sale began with "is this still available" I think. Doesn't take that much effort to reply with a yes. FB actually gives you an automated response for that if you don't want to type it you can just click on it.

Don't get me wrong, I have singled out some flakes and blocked them but that isn't usually my first response.

 

[mike0000]

Well the car sold today from the FB add, in total I had 5 what I believe to be scammers from Craigslist. I immediately shut down the adds, glad it sold quickly, probably stick to Marketplace in the future.

 

[jyoutz]

I simply tell the Craigslist people that the terms are: show up in person with cash. The scammers don’t reply back.

 

[armylifer]

I bought my Model T from a guy in Oregon, more than 150 miles from me, from a CL ad. My brother bought a '67 Camaro from a party in CA, more than 2300 miles away from where he lives in WI. I once sold a Suzuki Samurai to a guy that lived more than 100 miles from me, on an ad that I placed on CL. I am currently considering buying another vintage car from the Hagerty online auctions. None of the cars I am considering are within 1500 miles of me. Some are even way down in FL. It is not unusual for people to look for things far away from where they live anymore. Why restrict yourself to the local area to buy or sell? I know that when I answer a CL ad I always begin with the most important question first; is it still available?

 

[jaxs]

New ads get 50-200 "Hi is this still available" responses within 15 minutes which means robots are doing the majority. Facebook should take that button away. if people want to open a response with "is this still available", it's a free world but "If this is still available I'm interested" makes more sense all the way around. Occasionally I'll report a few listed for 10% market value in 10 states but when I check a few days latter ads are still up. When buying if you click Seller Details, what you see will help spot scammers.

 

[D2Cat]

I never ask "is it available". I ask a question about the item. If they answer it's available and I can proceed with other questions. It also keeps me from getting blocked by some sellers, I'm sure.

 

[Speed25]

I've had the opposite experience. Craigslist has been good to me in recent years as scammers seem to have mostly moved on to the more popular Marketplace. Oddly though, I used to have people dicker on prices on Craigslist, but most sales in the last few years just show up with cash and don't even try to negotiate. I've cleaned out my shop recently and sold three mowers this year on CL. All showed up with cash and went on their merry way with a new-to-them mower. I try to price my stuff to move quickly, so maybe they recognize that it's already a deal. I sold my BX hard cab to a guy halfway across the country via CL, so I don't care much about location if it's a more rare item I'm selling. So long as they don't set off my BS meter...